無量壽經連義述文贊 1.7

1.7

經曰「與大比丘」者，述云：第五、傳機。經本不同，帛延備敘三眾：一、聲聞眾，即「與大弟子眾千二百五十人、比丘尼五百人、清信士七千人、清信女五百人」也；二、菩薩眾，即「菩薩七十那衍」也；三、諸天眾，即「欲天子八十萬、色天子七十萬、遍淨天子六十那衍、梵天一億」也。支謙唯標聲聞之眾，即「摩訶比丘僧萬二千人」也。今法護經略舉比丘、菩薩二眾，餘皆無也。所以有此備闕者，蓋翻家意樂互存廣略，異由此也。將釋傳機，有二：初、聲聞眾；後、菩薩眾。眾有此次第，亦如前解。初又有五：此初、標行也。即《法華論》中云「論聲聞，修小乘行，依乞等自活故，威儀一定不同菩薩，故以比丘為名」也。

Regarding the sūtra text: "with the great bhikṣus": The commentary states: Fifth, transmitting the audience. The sūtra texts differ: Bai Yan fully narrates three assemblies: 1. the śrāvaka assembly, namely "with a great assembly of disciples of one thousand two hundred and fifty people, five hundred bhikṣuṇīs, seven thousand upāsakas, and five hundred upāsikās"; 2. the bodhisattva assembly, namely "seventy nayutas of bodhisattvas"; 3. the devas assembly, namely "eight hundred thousand devaputras of the desire realm, seven hundred thousand devaputras of the form realm, sixty nayutas of Śubhakṛtsna devaputras, and one hundred million Brahmadevas". Zhi Qian designates only the śrāvaka assembly, namely "twelve thousand mahā-bhikṣu-saṃgha". Now Dharmarakṣa's sūtra briefly mentions the two assemblies of bhikṣus and bodhisattvas, and none of the rest. The reason for this presence or absence is simply that the translators' preferences varied between the extensive and the abridged, and the divergence arose from this. In explaining the transmitted audience, there are two: first, the śrāvaka assembly; second, the bodhisattva assembly. That the assemblies follow this sequence is also as explained before. The first also has five: this is first, indicating their practice. That is, as it says in the *Saddharmapuṇḍarīkopadeśa*: "Regarding the śrāvakas, they cultivate Hīnayāna practice and support their livelihoods by mendicancy and the like; their deportment is fixed and not like that of bodhisattvas, so they are named bhikṣus."